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Sunday, July 8, 2012

*REVIEW* Circus Summer by Kailin Gow {BLOG TOUR}

In post-apocalypse America, every season, the Circus of Curiosities visits the city, bringing with it the most fantastic circus acts that are beautiful, majestic, curious, and death-defying. Every season performers for these acts are chosen from the young men and women in each town, trained, and sent to perform in a live grand performance, performed literally to the death. Two performers from Sea Cliff, a beach town at the outskirts of The Center find themselves chosen to be in this Summer's Circus Act. Both must win at any cost, but could they ignore their feelings for each other? Leela Sinclair needs to win in order to get to The Center where she can get medical help from the best physicians for her ailing mother, plague with a condition no one have heard of. For Zachary Nile, his reasons for becoming a performer at the Circus is more mysterious. Only the ringmaster and the Circus of Curiosities owner Dex Hightower (Dr. Dex) knows what the touring Circus is really about amidst the magic and splendor. Despite the Great War and the poverty surrounding the land except for the towns fortunate enough to be near the Center, Dr. Dex and the Circus performers all know, "The show must go on."

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The show must go on... Even when the people around you aren't making it out alive. In this dystopian novel the circus is only normal on the outside. For those that want to become a part of it, it could become the last thing they do. You will hold your breath while the participants go through the testing and start to compete in shows and cringe at some of the things coming. To many there is no after and to the others life will never be the same.

I love the prologue and the quick glimpse into the true nature of the circus that it gave. I got that this wasn't going to be your run or the mill clowns and elephant kind of circus but I didn't expect the level of intensity that the place produced. This is a life or death circus that can provide you with everything or take it away. In the war torn world even the horrors and possibility of not making it is worth the risk to help put your family in a better place.

The book was told from two points of view. Leela and Zach both have their fair share of the spotlight. The alternating view between the two competitors makes the novel a lot more interesting and brings a better understanding of the two people. They really aren't all that different when you look at it. They are both strong, determined and wise. They work well together and become each others strength while at the circus. It also helps that Zach knows more than he lets on. He is defiantly one of the better good guys and even if he isn't out right about it all the time he cares deeply for Leela.

The biggest question I have is about the war and invaders. What I do know is that the invaders started the war. Not only did they come for us but they have been taking technology away. The Center is the only place that seems to have full technology and communication. Rather than the odd auto-mobile there isn't much for transportation either. This doesn't even really leave us much to fight the war with either. However rather than finding out a little bit extra near the end (I'm not telling what) that is all you really know about them and the war. This is just another one of Kailin Gow's awesome ways of entrapping you in her books. Always just leaving a little to the imagination so that you need more.

This book kind of reminded me of the trials that happen in Divergent. The world is different and the characters are far from the same but the danger they endure to be a part of something just gave me that feel. Actually it was a constant intensity like that. There was something beyond the practices and the shows but when it all came down to it, it is all of the pressure that each participant faces that draws you in. When you lost a person it was like that pregnant pause where no one knows what to say. Even if the character wasn't a well developed one you still felt it.

Kailin Gow's creative and imaginative mind shines in this novel. Bringing a reality that is cruel and horrible but balancing it out with compassion and bravery. When entering this book I was excited and curious, I finished this book excited and in need of the next one!! This is another one of Kailin Gow's masterpieces and one more series for me to need and wait for each release anxiously!

*Note- This book was provided to me in turn for an honest review.

About Kailin Gow: Kailin Gow is the author of over 100 books, with the majority of them for young adults. Her most popular series are: The Frost Series, PULSE Series, Desire Series, Wicked Woods, Steampunk Scarlett Novels, and more. A full-time author, she is also a producer, having worked in radio, television, and film. She grew up in Southern California, lived in Texas and England, and had traveled extensively around the world.

Links for all the Awesome:

Website: www.KailinGowBooks.com

Blog: http://KailinGow.Wordpress.com

Twitter: http://Twitter.com/KailinGow

Facebook: http://Facebook.com/KailinGowBooks

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/KailinGow

All books on Amazon : http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_tc_2_0?rh=i%3Astripbooks%2Ck%3AKailin+Gow&keywords=Kailin+Gow&ie=UTF8&qid=1337442917&sr=8-2-ent&field-contributor_id=B002BMAEH4

All books on B&N : http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/kailin-gow?keyword=kailin+gow&store=allproducts

There is also a GIVEAWAY going on!! In the Kindle version there is a $100 Amazon Gift Card giveaway/contest!! It is found within the pages of Kindle editions ofCircusSummer!!

So make sure you buy your copy!! Head over to Kailin Gow's blog for full details!